Suction cleaners



March 10, 1959 D. c. GERBER ETAL 2,876,481

SUCTION CLEANERS Filed March 9, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 10, 1959 Filed March 9, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 D. C. GERBER ETAL' 2,876,481

SUCTION CLEANERS Utcd States Patent SUCTION CLEANERS Application March 9, 1955, Serial No. 493,082

0 1 Claim. (Cl. 15-331 The present invention relates to suction cleaners and more particularly to a converter arrangement by which the cleaner may be normally used as an upright on-thefloor cleaner or for off-the-floor cleaning and is an improvement over the patent to Replogle 2,210,950.

According to the present invention, an extensible and collapsible hose is associated with a cleaner in such a manner that in its collapsed position it occupies a position, the length of which is that between the suction nozzle connection and the connection to the entrance to the filter in which the hose for on-the-floor cleaning serves to conduct dirt laden air from the nozzle to the top of the filter chamber, and in which the lower end of the extensible hose may be detached from the on-the-floor nozzle, and the hose extended for use as an off-the-fioor cleaning tool either with or without the use of an auxiliary cleaning tool attachment which may be attached to the free end of the extensible and contractable hose.

An important feature of the present invention is that the extensible and contractable hose normally occupies the space between the nozzle and the inlet to the top of the filter casing so that there are no loops or turns in the hose so as to render it unmanageable for on-the-floor cleaning, but may be detached and extended to three or four times its collapsed length for ofi-the-fioor cleaning.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the cleaner of the present invention,

Figure 2 is a sectional view showing the connection between the top end of the hose and the filter casing, and

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the cleaner of Figure 1 showing how the cleaner is connected for off-the-floor cleaning.

Referring to the drawings, the reference numeral represents a casing which houses the filter unit and the motor-fan unit (not shown). Casing 10 is pivotally connected to a nozzle 11 in a manner well known in the art. The nozzle includes a downwardly facing suction opening having a rotary agitator mounted therein in a manner Well known in the art.

The agitator may be driven by the motor in any suitable manner known in the art such as disclosed in the patent Burkhardt 2,225,621.

The lower end of casing 10 houses the motor-fan unit (not shown) while its upper end houses a filter unit which includes a filter bag 12, attached at its upper end we downwardly extending flange 13 detachably secured to the upper end 14 of casing 10. The flange 13 includes an annular gasketed ring 15 which is clamped between the cap 16 and the top 14 of the casing 10 as shown in Figure 2.

The cap 16 is hinged to the top 14 at 17, and a latch 18 is provided whereby the top 16 may be pivoted upwardly to provide for the removal of the filter 12 for cleaning or replacement.

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The top 14 includes an inlet opening 19 connected by passage 20 to a fitting 21 to which one end of an extensible and contractible flexible hose 22 is attached. The opposite end of the flexible hose 22 is detachably connected at 23 to a duct leading to the suction mouth of the nozzle 11 and is normally clamped intermediate its ends to the casing 10 by a releasable clamp 24.

The hose 22, per se, comprises a thin walled thermoplastic tube encasing a cylindrical helical reinforcing element, the turns of which are so wound as to tend to remain in contact with each other with the wall of the tube forming deep folds 30 as shown in Figure 1 in contact with each other when the hose 22 is collapsed. The hose 22 is very extensible because the turns of the deep folds in the wall of the tube will straighten out as shown at 31, Figure 2 when the hose is stretched. When the stretching force is released, the turns of the close coiled reinforcing element will return to their close coiled position and reform the deep folds in the wall of the tube whereby the hose may occupy the shortspace provided for it as shown in Figure 1 without forming any loops or bends as in the prior art constructions as illustrated by the patent to Replogle 2,210,950.

The hose 22 is extensible to three or four times its collapsed length as shown in Figure l to an extended position as shown in Figure 3 and when released will return to the length shown in Figure 1 in which it normally occupies a compact position between the fitting 21 and the fitting 23 and is thus positioned between two fixed parts of a suction cleaner having a fixed distance between them and also forms a functional part of the cleaner in that position.

When it is desired to usethe cleaner for oif-the-fioor cleaning, the connection 23 is detached, the hose 22 removed from beneath the clamp 24, and a wand 25 attached to the fitting 23. Any type of cleaning tool 26 may then be attached to the end of the wand 25, and the hose 22 extended to three or four times its collapsed length for off-the-floor cleaning purposes.

From the foregoing description, it can be seen that the present invention provides a suction cleaner having an extensible flexible hose normally forming a conduit for dirt laden air from the suction nozzle to the top of the filter chamber and lying between two fixed parts of the cleaner without any loops or bends, and in which its lower end may be detached from the nozzle and extended for use for oif-the-floor cleaning with or without an attached cleaning tool and when detached still forms a conduit for dirt laden air to the top of the filter chamber.

While we have shown and described but a single embodiment of our invention, it is to be understood that that embodiment is to be taken as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense. We do not wish to be limited to the particular structure shown and described, but wish to include all equivalent variations thereof except as limited by the scope of the claim.

We claim:

In a suction cleaner of the upright ambulatory type which is normally propelled about over the surface to be cleaned during the cleaning operation; a suction nozzle,

mounted for ambulatory movement and forming a sup port for the remainder of the cleaner; said nozzle having a downwardly facing suction mouth extending from side to side thereof; a rearwardly extending duct on said nozzle in communication with said mouth; a filter casing carried by said nozzle and normally extending upwardly and rearwardly therefrom when the cleaner is in normal use; a propelling handle extending upwardly from the top of said casing; an inlet opening formed in the upper end of said casing; a connecting tube extending downwardly along said casing above said duct and communicating with said inlet opening; a filter mounted in the interior of said casing in a position to receive dirt laden air entering said casing through said inlet opening, and an exten; sible self-contracting hose having its upper end attached to said tube and its lower end attached to said duct so as to extend downwardly along saidcasing to said duct; said hose being extensible to a length two or three timesits static contracted length and ot a length when contracted to just span the lineal distance between said tubeand duct while lying closely adjacent said casing and said cleaner being of the type in which a suction is drawn on the interior of said casing so as to normally draw air through said. nozzle, said duct, said hose, said tube and said filter into the interior of said casing for normal on-the-floor cleaning and in which the lower end of said hose is detachable from said duct for off-the-fioor cleaning whereby said hose occupies a small out of the way space when the cleaner is used for on-the-fioor cleaning yet may be freely extended to provide. anample, length of hose for off-the-fioor cleaning without adding more hose.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 427,607 Murray Apr. 12, 1892 2,175,647 Replogle (2) Oct. 10, 1939 2,237,830 Jerome Apr. 8, 1941 2,266,075 Replogle (l) Dec. 16, 1941 2,396,059 Roberts Mar. 5, 1946 2,566,030 McGuire Aug. 28, 1951 2,739,616 Duff Mar. 27, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 213,420 Switzerland May 1, 1941 

